THE UK'S PREMIER INVITATION-ONLY EVENT FOR FINANCE EXECUTIVES
Future of Finance Exchange - Day 2
8:15 am - 8:45 am
Event Registration & Breakfast
8:45 am - 9:00 am
Exchange Day Two Welcome and Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
John Hall -
Former Head of Finance at Bunzl and Co-Founder & COO of Triangular World,
Future of Finance Chairperson
John Hall
Former Head of Finance at Bunzl and Co-Founder & COO of Triangular WorldFuture of Finance Chairperson
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Opening Keynote - Rebels in Finance: How Nonconformist CFOs Are Redefining the Industry
Innovation is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge, but traditional finance practices are often stifling creativity and slowing down decision-making processes. A once risk-averse role has to accept that its leaders need to be more creative and risk-oriented, excelling in new skills outside of purely accounting. We are entering a period of ‘disrupt or be disrupted’ – will you rebel against the old guard of finance?
· Taking on responsibilities beyond traditional finance, such as overseeing supply chain or technology implementation
· Investing in disruptive technologies that redefine the entire finance function and that require completely new skills
· Justifying increased risk-taking to demonstrate greater value as the CFO
9:35 am - 10:05 am
Plenary Presentation - Breaking Free of Operational Drudgery and Moving Towards Bigger Picture Work
What could you do if just 10% of your entire day’s work could be automated? You could dedicate that time to research; to training and developing the skills of your team, or even develop a new business case over a few months. Now what if 50% of your entire day’s work is automated? Would your entire value to the business change? Leaders in the finance space need to be prepared for the drastic time-saving opportunities that are now available, and a serious discussion about what leaders do with this free time needs to be prioritised. By automating the majority of the finance process, leaders will incrementally find themselves involved with higher-value work and becoming higher-value members of the organisation.
· Setting the plan for future ‘free’ time by prioritising analytical and strategic skills
· Discovering what is possible when it comes to ‘autonomous’ finance functions and debating if it is even possible
· Creating time-use-cases – learning what will become the next big time-sink for the finance leader
10:05 am - 10:35 am One-to-one Business Meetings | Peer-to-peer Networking
A case study presentation of the findings of one organisation’s first implementations of AI in the finance function. Promising to back their findings with data from the rollout, this is a case study for those who want a quick win for their AI initiatives!
A long-time quandary for many finance leaders – How do I optimally divide between driving long-term strategy and managing essential day-to-day financial operations? For planners and controllers, as an example, entire weeks of the month can be dedicated to the same core process. Something needs to change, and this think tank is a place to learn and start!
10:40 am - 11:10 am
One-to-one Business Meetings | Peer-to-peer Networking
11:15 am - 12:00 pm
Panel - ‘Old Finance’ Vs ‘New Finance’: A Generational Discussion on Leadership in Finance
John Hall -
Former Head of Finance at Bunzl and Co-Founder & COO of Triangular World,
Future of Finance Chairperson
Ana Luiza Meireles - Senior Finance Director, Warner Bros. Discovery
Luís Nunes Martins - CFO, Portugal & Austria, Manpower Group
Janine Buerger - CFO, Germany, eBay
The Exchange has focused heavily on leadership and the idea that we are greater than just number crunchers. Finance leaders should be experts in people and communication as much as they are experts in accounting. A major part of understanding people is culture and language, and when we initially think of culture and language we think of regional or national variations. But what about generational? Arguably a greater shifting force for corporate culture has been the induction of younger employees, who bring new social pressures; with novelty becoming authority over the tenure of their careers. The time has come to bring together 4 generations of Finance leaders from Baby Boomers to Generation Z.
· Defining the generations by exploring the core characteristics and where they differ or overlap.
· Understanding our definitions of finance leadership and how our perceptions of what classifies as “good” leadership have changed
- Utilising ‘New Finance’ to bridge the gaps between generational differences to create better leadership overall.
John Hall
Former Head of Finance at Bunzl and Co-Founder & COO of Triangular WorldFuture of Finance Chairperson
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
Keynote - Profit at What Cost? The Ethical Dilemmas Facing Modern Finance Leaders
Sasa Tulikoura -
CFO, Finland,
Swissport
Are we sacrificing long-term sustainability for short-term gains? How do we reconcile profitability with ethical business practices? In a world where profitability is often the primary measure of success, finance leaders face increasing scrutiny over how they operate and make decisions. Failure to focus on these questions and ethical lapses can lead to significant financial risks, including fines, legal actions, and reputational damage. Whether these new ethical dilemmas are warranted or not, trends show that they are here to stay, and so the question becomes how we as leaders deal with them in the best possible way. We have a chance to lead by example and create a corporate culture that not only tackles these new challenges head-on but makes them easier for us as leaders to handle in the future.
· Setting precedents to drive brand loyalty and sustainable growth at the expense of short-term gain
· Creating a culture of transparency in order to mitigate catastrophic PR crises
Owning and developing a comprehensive ESG strategy, demonstrating a new era of value deriving from the CFO
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
Icebreaker: The Fine Line of Finance
Coloured tape is positioned across an open floor to symbolise a spectrogram. On one end of the tape, “strongly agree” is marked while the other end is labelled “strongly disagree”. A facilitator will provide a statement, and participants are asked to position themselves along the spectrogram. Participants can stand in the middle or take in-between positions! This exercise is designed to find the divides between us and how we find compromise.
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Networking Lunch Day 2
Nearly there! Get Ready for the Final Stretch of the Exchange with our Last Keynotes and Roundtables This Evening.
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
One-to-One Business Meetings I Peer-to-Peer Networking
As other sessions have stated, generative AI offers tremendous opportunities to the finance function. However, gen AI also raises significant concerns about data security in enterprise. As finance leaders, we have some of, if not the highest, availability to organisational data of any role. And so, we understand the incredible sensitivity of financial details that would be catastrophic if they were to fall into the wrong hands. We’ll examine real-world incidents where AI-driven threats have targeted finance operations and discuss strategies to safeguard your organization’s data. Learn how to balance the benefits of AI with the necessary security measures to protect your enterprise from emerging threats.
3:15 pm - 3:45 pm
One-to-One Business Meetings I Peer-to-Peer Networking
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION GROUPS
Group A
3:45 pm - 4:30 pm The Importance of ‘Soft Skills’ for Finance Leaders. Juan Jose Piedra Galan - Global Financial Planning & Analysis Manager, GaldermaWhilst obvious, it’s the CFOs with exceptional soft skills that become the most successful. And with so many traditional functions becoming autonomous, the demand for new skills is being heightened.
Group B
3:45 pm - 4:30 pm Using Our Data Access Effectively to Engage Other Departments Ilya Selivanov - SVP, Productivity and Transformation, ReckittFinance leaders have potentially the most unrestricted access to data in the entire organisation. Let’s start using this access for good, enhancing cross-functional collaboration and positioning the finance function as a vital partner in achieving organizational success.
Group C
3:45 pm - 4:30 pm Strategists Vs Operationalists: A New Divide in Finance? Csilla Torma - Director of Finance, Deutsche TelecomA new divide is emerging between strategists, who focus on long-term growth and vision, and operationalists, who ensure day-to-day efficiency and control. This roundtable we want to bring these teams together ensuring these two mindsets within finance find potential for harmony and further growth!
